Byrne accuses Government of passing housing buck to private landlords
Issued : Monday 15 May, 2006
Speaking in Cork Street this morning, Labour Party Councillor Eric Byrne said that new figures showing that the cost of rent supplement has increased from €150 million to almost €400 million since 2000 came as no surprise. “As a public representative I deal daily with people who cannot pay the exorbitant rents being demanded by private landlords without assistance, and who have little hope of being housed by the Local Authority.
“The massive cuts in public and social housing provision mean that increasing numbers of low-income households are dependent on the private rented sector: The most recent figures indicate that 40% of tenants in the private rented sector receive rent supplement. The recent introduction of the Rental Accommodation Scheme – under which those receiving rent supplement for over 18 months will move to local authority control but continue being accommodated in the private rented sector – amounts to an admission by the government that the private rented sector forms a major part of government housing policy for those on low incomes.
“Instead of investing in social and affordable housing, this government is passing the buck to the private sector. The result will be that increasing numbers of low-income households will be housed indefinitely in private rented accomodation, often in inner-city apartment complexes like those here on Cork Street which are quite unsuitable for raising a family.
“The latest rent supplement figures are just one more indication that we are facing a housing emergency which will only be ended by a massive programme of state investment social and affordable housing. That investment is unlikely to happen under Fianna Fail and the PDs", Cllr. Byrne concluded.
